


At this point in the night, no need for conversation

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Series: Whiskey in Mind [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bartender Alex, Confident Alex, M/M, Mechanic Michael, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 17:10:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21201176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: He spots Alex when the light hits him just right and Michael feels like all the air gets punched out of him. Oh no. His brain had not been wrong. Alex is still the most beautiful thing Michael has ever seen. His eyes seem even more enchanting than they’d seemed the last time. He’s laughing, loose and free. Michael realizes he’s talking to some guy who’s sitting at the bar. A guy who looks like he’s stepped right off the cover of GQ. The swoop of jealousy he feels is irrational and completely ridiculous. Alex’s eyes dart around the room and for a split second, Michael thinks about hiding, but then Alex’s eyes land on him and it’s too late.Recognition flashes over Alex’s face and his grin widens. He raises his hand in a wave and the model he’d been talking to looks over his shoulder. Michael doesn’t allow himself to hesitate before heading over to the bar, he’ll just drop off the shirt and leave. He doesn’t have to stay.





	At this point in the night, no need for conversation

**Author's Note:**

> Part two is here! The reception to the first part was so lovely I couldn't help but write a second part, and now I've got two more parts planned? Ooops?   
I really love writing Alex like this, where he got away from Jesse and didn't join the Air Force and he's getting to be so much more free. Also, Michael just being completely gone for Alex is my favourite.

In his mind, Michael had turned his car around at least five times. He’d turned off this road and headed straight for Houston. It has been five days. Five days of dealing with Isobel’s wedding. He loves his sister, he really does, but she is a lot. Especially around events, and _especially_ when those events involve her being in the spotlight. Her wedding was, admittedly, beautiful and her new husband was a nice guy, she looked like a dream. But Michael is now exhausted. Again. Exhausted from people. The smile he’s been faking the whole time feels like it’s burned into his skin, the insistent questions about his job and when he’d “find a nice girl to settle down with”, no one seemed to understand that he doesn’t want that.

He doesn’t want to settle down. He is 24, he wants hot and heavy and screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain and making up at 3am because you can’t be with or without each other. He wants the desperation and the heat. He doesn’t want settled and calm and normal. He wants something that is going to make him _feel_ something. He doesn’t want easy. He doesn’t want that. Not yet. Not with anyone he’s dated so far.

That is why he’s been debating leaving the road taking him back to Roswell, New Mexico for the last two hours.

Because the one person that has ever made him _ache_ with the want to go back to them, is Alex. Alex, whose last name he doesn’t even know. He doesn’t even know how old he is, where he was born, if he has siblings. All he knows is that he likes tequila and that he was made to fuck Michael into oblivion. He doesn’t want to go back because he is terrified. Terrified that the image he has in his head doesn’t match up with the reality. That his exhaustion fuelled brain has turned an okay hook-up into the best damn sex he’s had in a _long _time. Alex can’t possibly be as hot and gorgeous and tempting as Michael remembered him, right?

He wants to turn around, but he hasn’t, and when he drives past the sign that says “Welcome to Roswell” he tells the annoying voice in his head that it’s too late now. He’s already here. Plus, Alex wants his shirt back.

The shirt in question has been washed and is neatly folded on the seat next to Michael. He hadn’t realized in the moment, but it’s an old band t-shirt. Some emo-band from the late nineties. He can’t really keep it when Alex had said he wanted it back. That would be rude. So he follows his navigation as it leads him to the Wild Pony, as he learned later the bar was called.

The parking lot is a lot busier this time. Granted, it’s Saturday night, heading towards ten thirty. Michael isn’t sure if he’s happy there’s going to be a human buffer there, or disappointed. He parks his truck and with a final deep breath he grabs the shirt and kicks the door open. He throws the door shut and heads towards the entrance. He ignores his shaking hands as he pushes the door open.

A wall of happy chatter and music greets him. He takes a few steps inside, studying his surroundings. It’s not quite packed, but close enough. There’s a group of guys in cowboy hats playing pool. A few very drunk looking girls attempting to play darts and the booths are stuffed with little groups ranging from old men to middle aged women to some guys in their early twenties. At the bar, there’s still a few stools empty, but not many.

He spots Alex when the light hits him _just_ right and Michael feels like all the air gets punched out of him. Oh no. His brain had not been wrong. Alex is still the most beautiful thing Michael has ever seen. His eyes seem even more enchanting than they’d seemed the last time. He’s laughing, loose and free. Michael realizes he’s talking to some guy who’s sitting at the bar. A guy who looks like he’s stepped right off the cover of GQ. The swoop of jealousy he feels is irrational and completely ridiculous. Alex’s eyes dart around the room and for a split second, Michael thinks about hiding, but then Alex’s eyes land on him and it’s too late.

Recognition flashes over Alex’s face and his grin widens. He raises his hand in a wave and the model he’d been talking to looks over his shoulder. Michael doesn’t allow himself to hesitate before heading over to the bar, he’ll just drop off the shirt and leave. He doesn’t have to stay.

‘Hey Michael.’ Alex says, his smile is easy and warm as Michael gets within earshot. He tells himself Alex had a few seconds to come up with his name, that he remembers doesn’t mean anything.

‘Hey. I brought your shirt back.’ He sets his elbow on the bar and holds the shirt out with the other. Alex claps his hands.

‘Yes!’ He turns to the guy, who’s right next to Michael. ‘_You_ owe me ten bucks.’ The guy rolls his eyes but digs his wallet from his pocket and hands over a ten dollar bill to Alex who takes it with a smug look on his face. Michael must look confused because Alex laughs when he looks at him and accepts the shirt from Michael’s outstretched hand. ‘What can I get you?’ He asks.

Nothing. The answer should be nothing. But Alex’s eyes are so warm and soft and Michael is weak. Is he wearing eyeliner? He has to be, there’s no way his eyes looked so big last time.

‘Just a beer, please.’ Alex nods and disappears off to the left.

‘Hi.’ The guy says after a second of uncomfortable silence. ‘I’m Kyle.’

‘Michael.’ He says, he doesn’t really want to look at the guy, but he also doesn’t want to be rude. So he throws him a quick smile and turns back to watch a girl almost put a dart through someone’s hand.

‘Yeah, Alex told me about you.’ That surprises Michael, so he turns back. Kyle is smiling at him. Why is he doing that?

‘He did?’

‘Yeah, I was wondering where his favourite shirt went, and he told me about the tourist that came through and promised he’d bring it back. I bet him you wouldn’t show.’ Michael doesn’t tell him how close he came to being right.

‘I’m not a tourist.’ He says with a frown instead. Kyle laughs.

‘You weren’t born in Roswell and you don’t live here either, that makes you a tourist.’ Kyle says and his smirk makes Michael huff at him.

‘There you go.’ Alex appears with a beer for Michael and the shirt has disappeared.

‘Thanks.’ Michael says, picking the beer up from the bar and taking a swig.

‘How was the wedding?’ Alex asks, and Michael can’t believe he remembers that.

‘Good.’

‘Did you cry?’ Alex smirks, leaning forward on his elbows and yeah, he still looks like a wet dream. ‘It was your sister’s wedding, you have to have cried.’

‘I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t Izzy would just have stomped on my foot to _make_ me cry.’ Michael says with a grin and Alex laughs.

‘Good for her.’ He says before a customer to the right demands his attention.

‘So, you like him, huh?’ Kyle asks, he’s studying Michael intently and he fights to keep his face under control.

‘He’s nice.’ He says and he knows he sounds defensive. Kyle smiles brightly.

‘I know.’

‘Are you two…’ Michael isn’t sure where he’s going with this, or how to ask or if he should ask, but he wants to know. Kyle raises his eyebrows.

‘Nah. We’re just friends, have been since we were kids.’ Michael feels like there’s more to the story though.

‘Except for those few years in high school where you were a complete dick to me.’ Alex cuts in with a smile that is just hard enough for Michael to see that he isn’t quite over whatever happened. Kyle flinches.

‘Yeah. Except for those.’ He sounds apologetic so Michael figures they’ve had this conversation before.

‘And then there was that one night where-‘

‘_Alex_.’ Kyle interrupts with wide eyes and a shushing gesture of his hands. Alex smirks and Michael can read between the lines. He grins at Kyle.

‘O come on. You can tell me.’ He says and Kyle groans.

‘No.’ He draws the word out dramatically. ‘You two deserve each other.’ Michael glances at Alex and he finds him looking at him. Kyle takes a big swallow of his beer, makes a face and then sighs. ‘Fine.’ Michael laughs.

‘So easy.’

‘Oh yeah.’ Alex agrees with the smirk that Michael is convinced he’s going to dream about.

‘You are both assholes.’ Kyle says, but it doesn’t carry much heat, so Michael figures he doesn’t mean it. ‘Alex was kind of my… bisexual awakening, if you’d like.’

‘Oh yeah, I had one of those too.’ Michael nods and Kyle looks relieved. 

‘Yeah, right! You just look at a guy one day and you’re like: Huh, I wouldn’t mind sleeping with him, and then you realize what you just thought and you panic.’ Kyle says, gesturing at Alex with his beer bottle. Alex has his hip set against his side of the bar and he looks really fond. It makes Michael’s stomach clench. Kyle is still jabbering on, but Michael isn’t paying attention anymore.

There’s something softer about Alex like this. He’s still gorgeous, but he seems less hellbent on getting Michael in his bed. Less pure temptation, more soft seduction. He seems to thrive in this environment, comfortable to the point where Michael wonders how long he’s been doing this job. Alex glances at him with a smile and Michael realizes with a start that he’s fucked. So goddamn fucked. Kyle seems to realize no one is listening to him anymore.

‘Ugh, if you two are just going to make heart-eyes at each other, I’ll just go annoy Maria for a while.’ He pushes himself off the barstool and heads off to the left. Michael would’ve felt guilty, but he also doesn’t really care.

‘Heart-eyes, huh?’ Alex says thoughtfully. He taps his finger to the side of his chin, drawing Michael’s eyes to his hands. Michael shrugs.

One of the cowboy hat wearing guys from before coughs annoyingly and Alex plasters on a “customer smile” if Michael has ever seen one. He takes a quick sip of his beer to hide his smirk as Alex gets another round of beers for the guy. As soon as the guy turns his back to take the beers back to his friends, Alex rolls his eyes. It makes Michael laugh.

‘I thought cowboys were supposed to be real gentlemen.’ Michael muses, even though he’s pretty sure most people would classify _him_ as a cowboy.

‘If you’re a pretty little thing that can slide into their truck and wear cut off jean shorts, sure.’ Alex says with a put on southern drawl. Michael snorts.

‘That’s terrible.’ Michael says. ‘Also, you could totally pull off jean shorts.’ The thought alone makes Michael feel uncomfortably hot in the already warm bar. Alex rolls his eyes, but his smile is somewhat pleased.

‘Thank you?’ He says. ‘Where are you from?’ Alex asks as he fills a glass with water and downs half of it in one go. Michael is momentarily distracted by the way he looks with his head tipped back like that.

‘I was born and raised in Houston.’ Michael says. ‘You were born and raised here?’ Alex tilts his head.

‘Yeah.’ The corner of his mouth quirks up. ‘What? Do I give off small town vibes?’

‘No, not at all, actually. It was just something Kyle said.’ Michael explains. Alex does, in fact, not give off small town vibes at all. He seems like such a free spirit. ‘Have you ever lived anywhere else?’ Alex picks up a bottle and refills the glass of the man two stools over. He nods, but something in his eyes has darkened a little.

‘Yeah, for a few months.’ There’s more to that, clearly, but Michael is afraid to ask. He doesn’t want to push too hard. ‘I didn’t like it, so I came back.’ He doesn’t offer why he moved away.

Alex gets called away and he throws Michael an apologetic look before moving off. Alex spends the next half hour incredibly busy. Michael thinks about leaving at least five times. He doesn’t know why he’s still here. What is he trying to get out of this? The chance to have Alex one more time before going back to Houston? For what purpose? To make himself more homesick for a guy he barely knows?

Still, he stays in his seat. Nurses his beer and then the second one when Alex drops it off between making something complicated for the girl batting her lashes at him. It’s almost funny, watching Alex smirk at her, because Michael has been on the receiving end of Alex’s _real_ bedroom eyes, and the look he throws the girl is _not_ real.

When the bigger groups finally start to drift out the door, heading to wherever it is people go in this town, Alex lets out a deep breath and runs his hands through his hair. It’s unfair. Michael wants to do that.

‘Well. That’s the worst of it done.’ He says, setting his hands on his hips. He looks at Michael, thoughtful expression on his face. ‘Have you ever been to New Mexico, _properly_?’ 

‘Well when you say it like that I’m going to have to go with no?’ Michael says. Alex nods.

‘Maria?’ He says and the woman Michael recognizes from before comes over to what seems to be Alex’s side of the bar.

‘Yes babe?’ She’s beautiful and her smile is warm and just a little teasing.

‘Would you mind closing up today?’ Alex asks. Maria doesn’t even feign subtlety as she glances at Michael pointedly and then looks back at Alex. Alex just smiles at her and she shrugs.

‘Sure. Go on, get laid, I’ll be here, on my own, dealing with Valenti.’ She says dramatically. Alex just steps forward and kisses her cheek.

‘Thank you, you’re the best.’

‘I know.’ Maria says, Alex is moving away seemingly to grab his things. Michael’s eyes land on Kyle and he grins and gives him a thumbs up. Michael can feel his cheeks go a little hot. He’s got no problem with people knowing he wants to jump Alex’s bones, but he barely knows these people. He fishes his wallet from his pocket and drops a ten on the bar. Maria picks it up and gives him a look.

‘Keep the change.’ He says. She narrows her eyes at him. She glances at Alex and when it seems like she deems him acceptably out of range she leans forward on the bar and says:

‘If you hurt him, I will find you and stab you in the neck.’ She lowers her voice further. ‘Alex has had enough assholes in his life, if you’re one of those, get out now.’

‘I just told you to keep the change.’

‘And I was just warning you.’ Maria says, smiling sweetly before moving away from him. He blinks after her.

‘Alright, come on. Let’s introduce you to the joys of New Mexico at night.’ Alex comes waltzing back into Michael’s immediate vicinity with his usual air of warmth and delight. Michael is helpless to do anything but follow.

‘So, you and Maria are close?’ He asks as Alex waves goodbye to a few of the patrons and pushes the door open.

‘Yeah, we are.’ Alex says, he shrugs on a black leather jacket that Michael had somehow missed. The night’s air is cool and crisp and Alex looks like the epitome of every last one of Michael’s bad boy fantasies, all he needs is a motorcycle. ‘She and her mom are like family to me.’

‘She seems to really care about you.’ Michael says, Alex, who had been staring out into the desert turns to him with narrowed eyes. He sighs.

‘She gave you the “if you hurt him I’ll gut you” speech, didn’t she?’

‘More like “if you hurt him I’ll stab you in the neck” but yeah.’ Michael shrugs. Alex makes a face.

‘That one’s new.’ He rubs his hands together. ‘Alright which truck is yours?’ He scans the line of cars and starts heading in about the right direction. Michael follows.

‘That one?’ Michael says, pointing at his good old baby.

‘I figured, it’s the only one I don’t recognize.’ Alex scrapes his teeth over his bottom lip as he looks over his shoulder and Michael almost forgets how to walk. ‘A real pickup, nice.’ Alex slides his hand along the hood and Michael has to take a deep breath before speaking.

‘So, you’re just going to get in a car with me? You don’t even know my last name.’ Michael says, but he unlocks the doors and Alex hops in the passenger seat. Michael gets in and closes the door.

‘You’re just going to drive out into the desert with me? You don’t even know my last name.’ Alex counters and Michael considers it for a second.

‘Oh, right. Am I about to be serial killed?’ Alex laughs, in the small space of the cabin it’s like his laugh, or the effect of it, is magnified.

‘Nah, I stopped doing that a while ago, it got too suspicious, you know?’ Alex jokes and alright, this is nice. Joking about getting murdered with a guy you wanted to get fucked by, that was a normal thing to do.

‘Oh yeah, I get that.’ Michael says. ‘It’s Guerin, by the way.’ Alex tilts his head. ‘My last name, it’s Guerin.’

‘Ah, alright.’ Alex smiles. ‘Alex Manes.’ Michael nods, pressing his lips together. Just learning the guy’s last name shouldn’t make him want to grin like a lunatic.

He puts the key in the ignition and starts the truck.

‘Alright, where to?’ Michael asks.

‘Take a right.’ Alex says and Michael pulls from his spot and turns right.

For the next five minutes, Alex directs him through what seems like a random collection of desert roads. He pulls the car to a stop when Alex tells him to. Alex hops out as Michael is still shutting off the engine. Michael steps out and throws the door closed behind him. Alex is standing with his elbow leaning on the side of the tailgate.

He’s looking towards the lights in the distance, the lights that signal Roswell.

‘I hated this place for so long.’ His voice has lost all of the ease it had before. Michael realizes they’ve moved into _personal_ territory.

‘Roswell?’

‘Yeah.’ Alex says. Michael lowers the tailgate, so they can sit down on it. He hops onto the bed and towards the locker he keeps in the back. He takes out the two heavy blankets he keeps there. He hands one to Alex, who accepts it with a soft smile and wraps it around his shoulders before sitting down. ‘I only ever left to go to basic training.’ This makes Michael blink. The last thing he’d have associated with Alex would have been a military career.

‘You wanted to join the army?’ He asks, snuggling into his own blanket. He keeps his eyes on the desert landscape.

‘No.’ Alex says with a soft huff of a laugh that lacks humour. ‘My _dad_ wanted me to join the Air Force.’ There’s a heaviness to that statement that makes Michael’s stomach clench. ‘I quit half way through, I thought about just disappearing entirely, but I had no money, no nothing, so instead, I came back here and I _begged_ Maria’s mom to let me live with them.’

‘She agreed?’ Michael asks.

‘Yeah. She was amazing. She basically told my dad to go fuck himself when he came to find me. She gave me a job, a place to stay, a family and after that, I didn’t want to leave anymore.’

‘Do you not want to leave, or do you feel like you _can’t_ leave?’ Michael asks and Alex looks over at him. He’s silent for a while, his eyes drift away to the sky. Michael can see the appeal of this. The moon is almost full, it looks huge out here, the light is enough to bathe both of them in silver. The sky seems endless. Stars dotting the blanket of dark blue in an endless reminder that there’s so much out there that they don’t understand yet.

‘It’s crazy, that the stars we’re seeing right now, have probably already been dead for years.’ Alex says. ‘We’re looking at the death of someone else’s sun. One day, ours is going to burn up and humanity will just… fade away.’

‘If we don’t destroy ourselves first.’ Michael says. Alex laughs, short and sharp.

‘That’s much more likely.’ He agrees. He lowers himself backwards so that he’s laying on his back, on the blanket now. He’s silent for at least a minute, not that Michael is counting. ‘I wanted to make music and my dad tried to send me to war. Mimi _saved_ me. How am I supposed to leave now?’

‘If she cares about you as much as it seems like she does, she’ll want you to be happy.’

‘But that’s the thing, I’m not _unhappy_.’

‘You just want more out of life.’

Alex turns to him and the expression on his face is one of surprise. He seems stunned, _floored. _His eyes are wide and shining with something Michael can only describe as wonder.

‘Who _are_ you?’ He asks, sounding almost emotional. Michael feels like both laughing and crying. What ever this is, whoever they are, he is getting more and more certain they were _supposed_ to meet. He’d never believed in God, nor Fate or “meant to be”, and he’s not even sure that’s what this is. He just knows that this moment, is one he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

‘I’m Michael Guerin.’ Alex has his head tipped to the side so he can watch Michael. Alex seems to breathe this in for a few seconds. Then he pushes himself up back into a sitting position. He looks over his shoulder and starts to move further onto the bed of Michael’s truck. He isn’t sure what is going on exactly, but he watches Alex anyways.

He stands and drapes the blanket over the bed of the truck and sits down on it. He pats the space next to him. Michael, who had been pretty comfortable dangling his feet, complies. When he’s sitting across from Alex who has set his back against the back of the cabin, he licks his lips.

‘This is the part where you kiss me.’

Okay.

It’s not the most comfortable position to kiss in. especially not because the bed of the truck is hard and his knees don’t appreciate him kneeling on it to get to Alex. The rest of him, however, couldn’t care less.

Alex kisses him with a desperation he doesn’t remember him having last time. Like he wants to burn the feeling of Michael into his skin, into his mind. Like he wants to make sure he’ll never forget this.

He’s saying goodbye.

Michael realizes with a start. Alex pulls him closer and Michael is practically straddling him, blanket still heavy on his shoulders, now cocooning them both.

The realization makes Michael throw himself into the kiss with double the effort and Alex groans, low in the back of his throat. Michael can feel his chest vibrate under his hands. Alex nips at his lower lip and Michael responds by digging his fingers into Alex’s hair. He runs his fingers through the strands like he’d wanted to do earlier, he tries to memorize the feel of it, how soft it is, the way Alex moans when he pulls just right.

He’s shrugging off his jacket before he can even think about what he’s doing. The blanket falls away along with his coat and the cold desert night’s air hits him right away. He ignores it, the pounding of his heart is hard enough that he feels like he should ignore something as silly as the cold. Alex laughs but Michael doesn’t think their lips should be apart for any sort of time, so he just kisses the sound off his lips.

‘You’re gonna get sick.’ Alex mumbles as he tugs at Michael’s curls to separate their mouths. Michael doesn’t appreciate it and rolls his eyes.

‘You’ll just have to be quick.’ He’s not going to let what looks to be his last chance to have sex with Alex be ruined by the _weather_. Alex looks him in the eyes for a few seconds, huffs out a laugh and then pulls Michael closer. Michael can finally feel that Alex is hard in his jeans and it makes his urgency ramp up even further. He tugs his shirt over his head, ignoring the goosebumps on his arms.

Alex finally seems to get with the program because he presses closer to Michael to work off his jacket and immediately after, his shirt. Alex’s skin also breaks out in goosebumps and it makes Michael smile.

‘If I get sick because of this, I’m going to be so pissed.’ Alex says, but he doesn’t sound all that put out.

‘Shut up and get on it.’ Michael instructs. Alex rolls his eyes but his hands drop to the button of Michael’s jeans.

‘This is a logistical nightmare.’ Alex says and his mouth clearly isn’t busy enough.

So Michael kisses him, hard and dirty and with more tongue than technically necessary. Alex doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, his hands fumble with the zipper of Michael’s pants and after that, they slide along Michael’s hips and dip into the back of his jeans. Michael doesn’t let up with his kisses, but he slides his hands down Alex’s chest. Judging by the sound he makes, it’s torturously slow. He undoes Alex’s jeans with shaky hands. He doesn’t know whether it’s the cold, the adrenaline or how fucking turned on Michael is. He doesn’t waste any time getting his hand on Alex the second he gets the space. Alex moans, he sounds so loud in the otherwise relatively silent desert.

If he’d been here alone, he would probably have been unnerved, but he’s thoroughly distracted.

‘Okay, fuck, fine.’ Alex says, his voice has gone all breathy. Michael smirks as he tightens his hand on the next stroke. Alex is hard and hot and heavy in his hand and it’s a fucking tragedy he hadn’t done this the last time, because Alex is so _responsive_. ‘Just, okay-‘ He tugs at Michael’s jeans, hard. ‘Get these off.’

‘Finally.’ Michael mutters. He lets out an indignant noise as Alex nips at his bottom lip in retaliation. Michael has to shimmy out of his jeans and he nearly elbows Alex _twice_. Michael decides not to waste time and take his boxers off too. Alex seems to find this all very amusing, a little too amusing for Michael’s liking. ‘Please tell me you’ve got something on you? Because if you leave me hanging right now, I’ll punch you in the dick.’

‘Like I couldn’t make you cum with my hands and mouth.’ Alex smirks up at him, but his hands are searching for something in his jacket. ‘I’m very good with my mouth.’ The images that puts in Michael’s head are excellent and also, not currently helpful, because Michael can almost _feel_ it.

‘I’d tell you to prove it, but I really want you to fuck me so, let’s do that first.’ Michael decides, sure they could do both, but he wants to reaffirm how mind-melting it was to get fucked by Alex, so he’s got priorities here. Alex smirks.

‘Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’ve got _this_.’ He holds up, not just a condom, but a packet of lube too. Michael doesn’t let out the hissed _yes_ his brain wants him to.

Instead, he focuses everything he’s got on trying to remember as much of what happens next.

He tries to memorize the way Alex’s fingers feel as they slowly work him open. The way Alex sucks and bites a bruise into his skin. The way he seems hellbent on dragging this out, taking his time, even when Michael tries to boss him into getting a move on. His soft, slightly irregular breathing against Michael’s neck as he swipes his thumb over the head of his dick. The soft groan as Michael finally sinks down on his cock. The way his eyes go all hooded and his fingers dig into Michael’s hips. His mouth and his eyes and those hands. He needs to take that picture.

‘That’s a bit of a weird request while you’re literally riding my dick.’ Apparently he said that last bit out loud. Well, it’s not the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done during sex. Also, Alex sounds well on his way to wrecked. Michael just shrugs and rotates his hips as he sinks back down on Alex’s cock. Alex’s breath hitches and so Michael does it again, and again, and again. Until Alex starts snapping his hips up to meet Michael as he comes down and he loses all coherent train of thought.

Alex comes first this time, it seems to be the combination of Michael pulling his hair, biting into the curve where his neck meets his shoulder and him doing that twisting thing with his hips. Alex sounds like his orgasm gets punched out of him. Michael is close himself, but he’s been so focussed on making Alex feel good that he’s forgotten about himself. Well, he hadn’t forgotten, he just hadn’t been chasing his own release as much. Alex doesn’t seem happy with that though.

Instead of basking in his own pleasure, he moves so fast Michael can barely follow. He pushes Michael backwards, a hand on the back of his neck stopping him from banging his head into the truck bed. He pulls out, which would have made Michael whine, had it not been for his three fingers replacing his cock almost immediately. It’s not quite the same, but it’ll do, especially when Alex takes Michael’s dick in his mouth. His mouth his hot and his tongue does a thing that makes Michael’s brain short circuit. His own moan startles him and when he looks down at Alex, his eyes are sparkling. He looks pleased. Michael drops his head back with a thump and digs his fingers into Alex’s hair, it makes him hum and Michael nearly comes on the spot.

‘Shit, Alex.’ Michael whines as Alex bops up and down again.

Michael was going to be a gentleman and warn Alex before he came, but Alex curls his fingers and takes Michael’s cock deeper than he had before and he swallows around him and all Michael can really do is tug weakly on Alex’s hair as his orgasm barrels right through him. Alex doesn’t seem to mind, he actually sucks Michael through it and when Michael shudders, both from the chill in the air and overstimulation, he sits up and swallows.

He looks really fucking pleased with himself.

Michael can’t even find any part of him that is annoyed at that.

It’s only then Michael realizes that he _is_ actually pretty cold. As much as he would love to stay naked and lounge around on his truck bed with an equally naked Alex, he also would like to keep his limbs, frostbite seems really uncomfortable.

So he follows Alex’s example and starts getting his clothes back on. Alex smirks at his put upon sigh.

‘I told you it was cold out here.’ He says as he hops back into his jeans, standing up on the bed, his movements make the truck shake just a little. He’s still a vision, lit only by the moonlight. His hair is a mess, there’s a bruise on his neck where Michael bit him, the lighting makes him look more silver than gold, he looks _happy_. ‘Want to take that picture?’ Alex smirks at him, and Michael realizes he’s stopped getting dressed.

‘Yeah.’ Michael says honestly and Alex stops, his shirt still in his hands. He looks a little surprised, but not put out.

‘Well, hurry up, before I catch my death.’ Alex says and Michael scrambles to find his phone in his jacket pocket.

The camera doesn’t do Alex justice, but at least he’ll have a reminder of this moment. Proof that Alex is real. Alex doesn’t pose, or smile, or do anything ridiculous. He just stays there, on the back of Michael’s truck, jeans low on his hips, shirtless and looking like temptation personified. Michael lowers his phone.

‘Give me that.’ Alex says, motioning for Michael to give him the phone. Michael does, he figures he wants to make sure Michael hadn’t cut off his head or something. Michael gets his shirt and coat back on and grabs the blanket for good measure. Alex hands him back his phone and quickly redresses himself. Alex ends up sitting on the locker, his back against the cabin.

This is the part where Michael figures things will get awkward. Maybe that’s good, maybe it’ll remind Michael’s heart that they really don’t know each other all that well. Maybe it will put a lid on this desperate feeling in his chest, and his mind yelling at him not to look away, because Alex might disappear.

‘What’s waiting for you back in Houston?’ Alex asks, his eyes are aimed at the stars.

‘My job, my cat, that’s about it.’ Michael shrugs. ‘Oh and a cactus, I’ve got a cactus too.’

‘No girlfriend, boyfriend?’ Michael frowns.

‘No, if I had one of those I wouldn’t be here, with you.’ Alex nods, slowly.

‘Sorry, I don’t mean to come off so suspicious.’ He says, wringing his hands together in front of him. This is about as insecure as Michael has seen him. ‘I just- I get this a lot. Well, that’s not quite true, but basically anyone who’s paid this kind of attention to me has been a traveller. Just passing through. One night, or not even that, and then they’re gone and I never see them again. They go back to their regular lives, their wife, girlfriend or boyfriend.’ Alex still isn’t looking at him. ‘I guess that’s the shitty part about being the only openly gay guy in this whole fucking town.’

Michael wants to say that that sucks, but it sounds really patronizing in his head, so he figures saying it out loud wouldn’t be beneficial.

‘Well, I’ve been painfully single for at least six months, so yeah, I’m really just going home to my cat and my plant.’ He gets a smile out of Alex, so he counts that as a win. ‘If Houston wasn’t a ten hour drive from here, I’d ask if you wanted to get dinner sometime.’ He’s not sure if that will make things better, or worse, but he means it, so he hopes that counts for something.

‘Where do you work?’ Alex asks, and that wasn’t quite what Michael had expected him to say, but he answers non the less.

‘Sanders’ Auto, I’m a mechanic.’ Michael says and Alex’s eyes flicker over Michael’s body. He grins.

‘That’s good. I’m just picturing you in a white tank top bend over a car.’ He nods approvingly and Michael laughs.

‘I’m glad you approve.’

‘If I’m ever in Houston, I guess I’ll just have to come find you, huh?’ Alex says with a smile. Michael swallows and nods.

‘Yeah, I’d like that.’ Michael hates this. He hates how final this feels.

Alex stands up and takes the two steps over to where Michael is sitting. He plants himself on Michael’s lap with an unfairly smooth move. Both of them are still wrapped in their blankets, but they don’t let that stop them. Alex kisses him. His kisses are softer than before, his breathing slow and deep as he nips at Michael’s bottom lip and slides his tongue into Michael’s mouth. Michael doesn’t get kissed like this very often. In fact, he can’t remember the last time someone kissed him like this. Kissed him just because they can, kissed him without the intention of it going anywhere. When Alex pulls back, Michael feels dazed and warm all over. Up close like this, Michael can see the blush high on Alex’s cheeks.

‘I wish I was brave enough to come with you.’ Alex says it so softly, Michael wouldn’t have heard it if they hadn’t been pressed so close together. Alex seems to startle himself by saying it out loud.

‘I think you’re already pretty brave.’ Michael says and he means it too. ‘And as much as I would love to be able to see you every day, your family is here, and I’d never ask you to leave them behind.’

‘Why couldn’t you have been just another asshole?’ Alex asks, his hands are resting on Michael’s shoulders.

‘Maria would have stabbed me.’ Alex snorts and drops his head forward to laugh into Michael’s shoulder. Michael soaks up the sound. ‘I’m going to miss you. I know it’s ridiculous, but I will.’ Alex looks at him again and there’s something soft and hopeful in his eyes.

‘We’ll see each other again.’

Michael really, really wants to believe him.

They head back to the Wild Pony after this. The bar is already closed, but Alex has a key. He lives above the bar while Maria and her mom live in a house nearby. It’s nearing one o’clock when they arrive back at Alex’s place, and Michael doesn’t even pretend to think long about it when Alex says he can stay the night. Michael would have tried for a second round as they crawl under the covers, but Alex looks all soft and comfortable and he snuggles into Michael’s chest, he doesn’t want to… spoil the sweetness of the moment.

He wakes up with the sun in his face and Alex’s lips wrapped around his dick. Alex proves he’s perfectly capable of making Michael cum with his mouth and hands only. For Michael, it only confirms he’s never going to be able to forget Alex Manes.

While he’s still trying to remember what is up and what is down and what his name is, Alex is finishing himself off. Which Michael finds fairly rude, once he realizes what’s happening. He tells Alex as much once he’s flopped down on the bed next to him. He laughs, breathless and warm.

‘I just wanted you to enjoy this.’

‘Trust me, I did.’

‘Yeah, I got that.’ Alex smirks at him. Michael can’t help but smile and he traces his hand up Alex’s chest, he presses on the mark he left on Alex yesterday, which earns him a soft moan. ‘If you want to be home before midnight, you should really not be doing that.’ Alex says and it takes all easy flirtatious, “maybe we’ll go for another round” energy from the air. Alex grimaces apologetically. ‘I just don’t want you to crash your car because I tired you out too much.’ Michael sighs, but tries to smile reassuringly.

‘I know.’ He’s got a ten hour drive to go and he already knows he’s going to be home late, while he has to be at work at 8am tomorrow.

They don’t say much as they get dressed and Michael triple checks to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything. Alex hovers around him and pushes a sandwich into Michael’s hands before he can leave.

‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.’ He says. It’s a pretty good attempt at casual and Michael tries to grasp it with both hands.

‘Thank you.’ He just says and he steps outside and heads towards his truck. Walking away feels awful. Like he’s walking away from something special and _real_. He tells himself it’s ridiculous and keeps walking. Alex is standing in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe as Michael drives from the lot. He waves and Alex waves back. He follows the navigation on his phone out of town.

That is going to be it. Michael is sure of it. However, he hasn’t been on the road for longer than ten minutes, when his phone signals a text message. Michael frowns. He wasn’t expecting any texts, per se. Isobel was off on her honeymoon and she’d threatened hellfire and destruction if anyone contacted her, Max wasn’t really a texter and everyone back in Houston knew he’d be traveling home today. He lasts for five minutes before pulling the car over to check the message.

_Alex Manes_ has texted him. The contact picture was the one he’d taken of Alex standing shirtless on his truck, only illuminated by the moonlight. That alone is enough to make him blush. The sneaky little shit had put his number in Michael’s phone.

_Figured I’d get your number while giving you mine. Feel free to tell me to fuck off if you want a clean break or whatever. _

And then thirty seconds later a second message.

_Or we could keep in touch._

Michael can feel the ridiculous grin spread over his face. He replies quickly before setting his phone back in the holder and continuing his drive back to Houston.

_Let’s keep in touch._ _I’m going to have to change that picture though, that’s going to get me in trouble._

His phone dings two minutes later and he grins as he reads the reply.

_I’ll just have to send you some options, I guess. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


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